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That vision was rewarded with a league title in November and was honoured again on Friday when Buono was named the CFL’s coach of the year at a luncheon in downtown Toronto. Edmonton head coach Kavis Reed and Winnipeg head coach Paul LaPolice also were nominated in early February.

Last season was also Buono’s swan song on the sidelines. He stepped down as coach in December to concentrate on his duties as general manager and was replaced by defensive co-ordinator Mike Benevides.

Looking back at this final triumph, Lions veteran defensive end Brent Johnson wondered if his head coach knew what it would take to complete a historic CFL feat.

“I don’t know, I think [Buono] would even say that he didn’t think, maybe, we were going to pull it off,” Johnson said.

Buono admitted as much Friday.

“We were hoping to be a third place [in the West] and then hopefully make a run,” he said. “But football, as I’ve learned over the years, is a very long, long season … In the locker room, the players didn’t quit on the coaches and the coaches didn’t quit on the players.”

Lulay and Johnson insisted Buono was the bedrock in 2011 — the thing that could never be broken.
“When times are tough or when times are good, it is constant,” Johnson. “[Buono] doesn’t try to take things out of perspective.”

“The guys trust him,” Lulay said.

Friday’s honour — the fourth time he has won — was not a recognition of 21 years as a head coach and five Grey Cups, but more emphasis upon, perhaps, Buono’s most impressive coaching feat in those 21 years.

In the first seven weeks of the season, B.C. was a catalogue of errors. If defensive players were not missing tackles, then Lulay, in his first season as the undisputed starter, was finding it hard to make shrewd decisions. Of the Lions first six losses, four were by eight points or less.

“[Buono] put that room together,” Johnson said, “and it wasn’t as if there was a lack of effort. Guys were working hard and trying to be on top of their game and preparation. I think for him it was probably just frustrating. As much as we worked, and as much as we seem to have the right idea going into games, we just kept falling short.”

Lulay and Johnson consider two losses to Winnipeg over a three-week span to be the low point. In Week 5, the Lions blew a 13-6 halftime lead; in Week 7, Lulay was pulled in the second half as Winnipeg won 30-17.

“There was that time when you just sit there and go, ‘If you plan on being a good team you’re going to have to plan on finishing your opponents,’ ” Johnson said.

But there was no pointed bluster from Buono. He has never been known as a master motivator. The mantra simply became win the next game, which they did for 10 of the next 11 weeks during the regular season and twice more in the playoffs.

“It is not a minimalist approach, [Wally] understands he is dealing with grown men who are professional, who get paid to do a job,” Johnson said. “But to motivate, you can’t do that at this level. Grown men who are being paid know they can be cut at the drop of a hat for one mistake during the game. It is hard to motivate that. They either motivate themselves or they are not around.”

Buono’s emotions would foam to the surface on game days, but the slate was wiped clean every week. Preparation is all that mattered. The former linebacker would consult his players, make sure he had a complete perspective. Buono’s coach in Montreal in the 1970s, Marv Levy, taught him that.

“Marv never panicked,” Buono said Friday. “He said this is my team, these are the guys I’m going with. Yeah, he is going to tinker when he has to, but that was embedded in us as players. It was our responsibility.”

Buono did not force change, but introduced elements to enhance the roster. Offensive lineman Khreem Smith solidified Lulay’s protection, and defensive tackle Khalif Mitchell was given a bigger role. Defensive back Tad Kornegay, a Grey Cup winner in Saskatchewan, arrived after being released by the Roughriders, and veteran receiver Arland Bruce came in a trade from Hamilton.

A 36-1 dismantling of Edmonton in Week 8 was the match that ignited the flame.

“We knew we were in a hole,” Lulay said, “but we didn’t necessarily dwell on that fact. We were in control of what was in front of us.”

A victory over Edmonton was followed by a victory over Toronto, which suddenly became an eight-game winning streak into October. A 42-10 loss in Hamilton in Week 17 ended the streak suddenly.

“One of the first things [Buono] said was we had two games left in the season and if we won those games we would take first place in the West,” Lulay said. “Again, that is right where our focus went.”

“B.C. was playing at a different level. They not only spanked us, but they spanked everybody else,” Montreal quarterback Anthony Calvillo said months after he and the Alouettes were flattened in the final week of the regular season 43-1.

Lulay became the symbol of a remarkable transformation. In the first seven weeks, he threw for just 1,763 yards, seven touchdowns and six interceptions. In the final 11 weeks, he threw for 3,052 yards 25 touchdowns and five interceptions. During Grey Cup week, he was named the league’s outstanding player.

The Lions defence, meanwhile, gave up the fewest touchdowns (32), and was first in average points allowed per game (21.4).

Lulay appreciated Buono’s “consistency with how he approached the guys and his very business-like attitude, knowing that if you dwell on a loss it can be bad for you, but if you dwell on a win in the same way that can be bad for you. He didn’t allow for that to happen.”

Buono was most relaxed in the playoffs, Lulay and Johnson said. In the Grey Cup against Winnipeg, there was never any insistence from the coach that his players play harder for the stage had become bigger.

“It was if he was at peace with us being there,” Lulay said. “He felt good that we were going to win, he said that as much to us.”

Lulay threw for 320 yards and two touchdowns in B.C’s 34-23 victory. Johnson registered one tackle in his second Grey Cup victory under Buono.

“There is a reason why guys play for him,” Johnson said. “He knows how to win.”

With the trophy over his left shoulder, a reporter asked Buono where he keeps all his Grey Cup rings.

“In my mind and in my heart … I don’t wear my Grey Cup rings, I never have,” he said. “It is not that I don’t appreciate it, but to me it’s the memories. The emotions. We are having a great time now designing our Grey Cup ring. Will I ever wear it? Probably not.”